r/basement

Bought the house one year ago and is around 100 years old. This crack has been there and I haven’t noticed any change in it. We did home inspection but I recall basement being full of stuff so not sure if inspector noticed them or not. I don’t see anything in the report. Should i worry?

So I went through this morning with a brim and made cobweb cotton candy. Then I spent the rest of the day breaking up the slab into manageable pieces.

Well, I had the junk guys come over this morning and haul all the crap out of this guy’s basement. Gonna fire up my jackhammer and get rid of all the floor that is under the mud. I’ll replace all these silly columns. Set it up with a drainage system and a vapor barrier and pump in a new slab.

Whenever it rains hard, water actively flows down the crack in window well you can see in the video. We ripped the paneling on the surrounding wall and you can see water flows down further to the cinder blocks below the window well.

I'm going to first regrade the ground outside and redo the window well. Then test it by spraying water mimicking rain pour.

My question is, let's say the regrading solves the issue of water flowing toward the foundation, should I be concerned about the water that had entered and flowed thru the cinder blocks in the past? I noticed during a storm there was no water coming out of the pipe into the sump pump.

I assume the water volume is not that high to cause it to flow to sump pump.

Should I redo the interior french drain?

Should I even redo wall insulation to install a proper vapor barrier? Currently it doesn't have the proper barrier.

Rebuilding the french drain is expensive, especially if regrading solves this issue. I'm just concern about the water that came in in the past.

Location central VA.

So I have a house from the 60s in Canada and after moving in I found bubbled paint in the basement (in spring time early may) that wasn’t there on inspection. I went searching and started cutting drywall and found mold and moisture on the warm side of the vapour barrier. With that it seemed to be more centralized under windows and spanning out. I since then replaced basement windows suspecting that was the cause. Then determined I’d re do the entire wall of drywall. Pulled the drywall to find the vapour barrier not sealed and just stapled on with no acoustic sealant or tape on any of it. I removed the insulation which was dry and no mold on it at all. The foundation has some calcium buildup or what I learned might be essflorence (don’t quote me on spelling). I want to know if this could also be from the windows or if this is a foundation issue that requires waterproofing. I got one guy who said just to clean it well and apply a sealer, but would like to verify any concerns before redoing the walls and finishing the basement again.

We just bought our first home in Atlanta, a small brick rancher, but it has a full, full-height basement. We're going to finish it out.

Been watching a lot of Asiri Designs engineering videos on YouTube and decided that, in addition to fixing some exterior drainage issues, we should build a French Drain around the interior perimeter.

Today while prepping for mold remediation, I noticed a newer concrete pour around the perimeter. It is on the three walls (the fourth is against a concrete patio that slopes away from the house) and connects to the sump pump pit.

It clicked when I followed it. There is no hole connecting to the sump pump basin, but presumably, this is a French Drain, right?

If that's the case, it's gonna save me a lot of labor!

This past week, we decided to remove the carpet in the home we just bought and replace it with LVP. After removing the carpet and wall trim, this is what we found. I’m concerned that it’s mold and water damage. A month ago I got the carpets cleaned and the carpet was wet/damp for about six days. We have a dehumidifier running in the basement and a fan pointed towards this spot. I already painted the walls and they were clear, but the area under the trim is a little concerning. I just emailed the person that did our home inspection just to get some advice, but figured I could post here too. Do you think it’s mold and should we contact someone further? Should we open up the drywall? Thank you for any advice.

Just to add-we are located in northern VA.

Location & Affected Materials:
Semi-finished basement (approx. 31x11 space). Visible mold growth along the bottom edge of the sheetrock near the floor/baseboard area, close to piping.
Timeline & Situation:
We are currently under contract on a single-family home. We just received our home inspection and lab reports back, which confirmed active mold spores on the sheetrock in the basement.
Contributing Conditions:
Suspected high moisture levels or localized water intrusion near the basement wall/floor junction and piping, though the exact underlying source is still being assessed.in basement behind finished sink and bathroom space there is unfinished basement wall we noticed mold .this is where hvac and heater are there .
What Has Been Done:
Nothing yet; we are currently within our inspection contingency window determining how to handle negotiations.
Our Core Concerns:

1. Is it safe and advisable to move forward with the purchase if proper remediation takes place?
2. Seller Fix vs. Credit: For those who have been through this, is it better to mandate that the seller remediate under strict contract terms (requiring licensed contractors and passing clearance tests), or is taking a closing credit/price reduction and managing the remediation ourselves the safer path?
   Appreciate any insights or advice from homeowners, inspectors, or remediation pros!

Opinion on if these cracks require sealing, general feedback?

Basement has had water this year from 2x mega storms (region has most summer rainfall on record). I have not observed the source of water and it seems relatively dry. No other cracks observed along foundation. I might be writing my answer typing it now.

Either way thoughts on repair?

100 year old home in Canada, several cracks in basement foundation, mild water intrusion when it rains. Concrete driveway blocking access to dig from exterior. Gutters are intact

Only owned for 2 years so I’m not sure if cracks have gotten worse. But there is a pretty big pile of foundation dust that seems to be growing beside a crack (2nd pic)

Foundation company, structural engineer, crack company? Just don’t think about it ?

My basement was like this when I bought it. It has evidence of mold/mildew/efflorescence from water damage from the failed sump pump and the water collection under my stairs that lead to the outside. My brother is going to fix the sump pump and the door so it stops leaking when it rains how do I treat the damage and make the space livable

Hey everyone,

I’m looking for some advice and a quick sanity check on a dehumidifier plan I’ve put together for my basement. It’s got a pretty unusual layout and a high moisture load, on the east end. My drawing is not to scale.

The Setup & Specs:

• Size: ~1,400 sq ft total footprint, unconditioned (no central AC, hot water radiators/boiler for heat, window ACs upstairs).
• Foundation: 9" thick brick with a parge coat on 95% of it and 3 1/2" concrete floor. The house is graded out nicely and there is no flooding or standing water, just some damp wet spots on walls and floor in various places
• Current Climate: Hovering between 70% and 75% relative humidity right now.
• The Layout: It's split into 5 rooms with, doorless openings.
• The Catch: Room 4 and Room 5 are the absolute wettest zones, and they are completely separated from each other by a wood wall that was also an old pantry in room 5. There is an old brick and concrete porch east of these rooms that has settled over time and now the rainwater runs off towards the foundation causing the issue. (plan to demo and rebuild in distant future)

Current Plan:
Instead of trying to run one 100-pint commercial unit (HDi 100) centrally located in room 2 or 3, I'm thinking of buying two smaller commercial units. Specifically, the AlorAir Galaxy 60P (60 PPD at AHAM / 165 CFM each, 120 PPD total).

The Proposed Placement:

• Unit 1: Placed directly inside the threshold between Room 3 and Room 4. Intake facing into the wet Room 4, exhaust shooting dry air north/west into Room 3.
• Unit 2: Placed directly inside the threshold between Room 2 and Room 5. Intake facing into the wet Room 5, exhaust shooting dry air west into Room 2 (pointing toward the Room 1 opening).
• Airflow Logic: By bridging the doorways, the intakes draw raw wet air from the dead ends, and the exhausts push dry air into the central rooms. The dry air should migrate into the large Room 1 naturally, while the brick cutouts around the radiator pipes acts as a free return channel back to the intakes.

My Questions for the Experts:

1. Will this threshold placement and sizing prevent short-cycling?
2. With Room 4 and Room 5 split by the wood wall, do I need to worry about the two units "competing" for air, or do the radiator pipe openings provide a safe pressure relief? (again, short cycling worry)
3. Is 120 PPD (AHAM) total capacity enough punch to push past continuous moisture coming through 9" of uninsulated brick walls?
4. Would one centrally located 100 PPD unit instead be enough to handle the multiple rooms?

Any additional thoughts, feedback on the layout logic, sizing, or machine choices would be highly appreciated before I pull the trigger and buy the equipment. Thanks!

Wall on the left will just be drywall

Far wall will have cabinets/book shelves on either end with electric fireplace and mounted TV in middle. Should I frame and run electrical for all of it now? Per my google searching a potential issue would be all the small drywall pieces, but wouldn’t that be an issue either way? Not sure what the normal order or operations is.

This is the wall of my crawlspace underneath the addition built on to my mobile home. The addition including this crawlspace is about 10 years old. There are 6 noticeable cracks in the wall as you can see. A majority of this wall is above soil grade so I don’t believe it’s soil pressure. Not much water comes through the cracks at all, just a little damp by 2 of the cracks but dries quickly after rain. I was wondering if this is something I should watch and measure or get an engineer to see. I can’t speak a lot for if the cracks from the original couple years of settling that most foundations go through as I have only lived here for 6 months.